Adolf Opalka

Adolf Opalka (4 January 1915-18 June 1942) was a Czechoslovakian army lieutenant who was one of the leaders of Operation Anthropoid during World War II. He was killed in the Cyril and Methodius Church siege in June 1942.

Biography
Adolf Opalka was born in Resice, Moravia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Czech Republic) on 4 January 1915 to a middle-class family, and he joined the Czechoslovakian army in 1936. He served with the 43rd Infantry Regiment in Brno, and his career was ended by Nazi Germany's occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, leading to him fleeing to North Africa to join the French Foreign Legion during World War II. Opalka joined the "Out Distance" sabotage group, which was parachuted into Czechoslovakia in 1942 to assist Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis in Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. After the success of the operation, Opalka and the six other parachutists were tracked down to the Cyril and Methodius Church, where they were besieged by 750 German SS soldiers. Opalka was injured by shrapnel during the shootout, and he proceeded to take cyanide to avoid capture.